Accepted for design exhibition at Costume Society of America
Williamsburg, Virginia 2018
Deconstruction of the Body(suit)
Louisiana State University, 2017
This bodysuit was designed and constructed using the theory of deconstruction as it applies to written texts and architecture. Unlike the use of deconstruction in apparel, in literature and architecture, deconstruction is used as a criticism and framework to analyze and interpret a text or structure. At the most basic level the writer or architect is questioned, especially his or her relationship to the subject or object of study.
All else aside, as a designer one of my main jobs is to clothe the body. So, in deconstructing this relationship between myself and the form, I chose to analyze how the body “clothes” itself. This lead to exposing muscular tissue through the “skin” of the body(suit). The white overlay represents skin, while the ruched red layer beneath represents muscle tissue. The ruching, which mocks the directions of the muscle structures in the body, is hand tacked on a woven under layer. The overlay is a white scuba neoprene to emulate the appearance of flesh. The overlay was attached by pick stitching around all cut out locations.
